Regional Police Report: Man Killed in School Bus Crash; Pedestrian Killed by Metra Train and More

Inverness

Man Killed In School Bus Crash

A 50-year-old Barrington Hills Man, Steven Schmidt, was killed Thursday after the SUV he was driving collided with a District 15 school bus in Inverness.

No children were on the school bus at the time of the incident. The bus was headed east on Palatine Road at about 3:50 p.m. and collided with an SUV headed west. Both drivers were taken by ambulance to an area hospital, Palatine Rural Fire Protection District officials said.

Skokie

Masked Gunman Robs Jimmy John's

Police responded to an , on April 14 around 9 p.m. According to police, a man entered the store, displayed a silver revolver and demanded cash. He would then flee the scene with about $500 in cash, the report stated.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 25 to 35-years-of-age, about a 180-pounds, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a camouflage bandana over his face, police said.

No arrests have been made.

Des Plaines

Eyewitness Says Train Death at Metra Stop Was An Accident

Additional safety precautions are necessary at a Des Plaines railroad crossing, a Des Plaines resident said after seeing a commuter hit by a train on Tuesday morning. Tim Lally, of Des Plaines, had just arrived for a train he usually takes to Chicago a short time before 7:30 a.m. when what Lally described as an accident occurred.

Lally, a software trainer, and his neighbor stood on the sidewalk on the southwest side of the railroad tracks at Pearson and Ellinwood streets, behind activated crossing gates, as an express train to Chicago not scheduled to stop in Des Plaines approached the depot.

A man standing on the center platform had been speaking with an elderly woman before turning away from her and walking southeast onto Pearson Street, between the tracks, Lally said. As the Metra train neared the depot, it blasted its horn, and the man turned to his left a moment before the train whizzed by.

The man was struck by the corner of the leading passenger car, Lally said, was knocked ahead 30 to 60 feet before being run over.

“When the train hit you actually heard the smash, the impact,” Lally said. “Seeing somebody hit like that, it was extremely violent.”

Niles

Man Saved from Rushing Waters

Three employees of the Village of Niles public works department likely saved a man's life Thursday morning, two witnesses said Thursday.

Ron Neukirch, a leader with the Niles Police Department's VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service) program and Niles Trustee-elect George Alpogianis both saw the scene unfold on Harts Road near the North Branch of the Chicago River, between Touhy and Milwaukee Avenues in Niles.

The area was closed to vehicle traffic all day Thursday due to high water.

Alpogianis said the bicyclist was coming eastbound on Harts Road in the early morning, and that the river water was high and started moving fast after 5 a.m.

Neukirch said when the man's bike entered the rushing water, he lost control, and both man and bike started to be swept downstream. At that point, the bike caught on a tree stump, Alpogianis said.

The three village employees – Pete Arvanitis, Mike Reid and Tony Dati--waded into water that was nearly waist deep to grab the bicyclist, both witnesses said, adding it was dangerous because the water could easily have swept them away.